Mojave MBR HFS Firmware Check Patch 10.14.x

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About This File

To use those patched files you must follow HowTo to create an USB installer. You can't just run the app downloaded from Mac App Store.

The patch is made base on 落下爱@pcbeta 10.10.x MBR patch method, and more patch for 10.14 HFS Firmware check by crazybirdy.

What is this patched OSInstaller doing?1. Patch the MBR check, allow macOS 10.14 installation on MBR partition.
2. Patch the Firmware check, bypass the error of "An error occurred while verifying firmware".
3. Patch to stop auto-convert to APFS , "ConvertToAPFS=false" is no longer worked with 10.14.4. This patched MBR OSInstaller will never convert to APFS, and will always install as HFS+ partition.
5. This patched MBR OSInstaller method works with both MBR HFS+ and GPTHFS+ partition (GPT+recovery).

No longer need to set new SMbiosversion, FirmwareFeatures, and FirmwareFeaturesMask with this MBR-patch.

What's the difference between createinstallmedia method, MBR-Manual-Method, and MBR-Automatic-Method?
As the following....
1. createinstallmedia method,

install via stage 2 manually, which is worked with both MBR and GUID, HFS+ and APFS, will never convert the partition format.

We can manually format as MBR or GPT, HFS+ or APFS on installation screen like as 10.12.

We can manually select MBR HFS+ partition to install 10.13 and 10.14 on installation screen now.

Needn't to update the MBR-Manual-Method files, it will still work on 10.13, and 10.14 future versions, I think so.

It can be installed as Fresh installation on formated blank partition only, but can't be installed as update from previous version.

3. MBR-Automatic-Method (new for 10.13+),

install via stage 2 automatically, which is worked with both MBR and GUID, HFS+ and APFS, will never convert the partition format.

It can be installed as Fresh installation on formated blank partition, and can be installed as update from previous version.

How to make 10.14 installer for MBR (MBR-Manual-Method)?

Just use MBR-EasyInstallerMaker﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿to make installer, it works with both MBR and GPT.

Read HowTo inside the dmg first, same as 10.12.

Read HowToQ/A Q5. How to patch to work with CPU SSE4.1 only for Mojave?
Read HowToQ/A Q6. How to download the full installer app via swscan.apple.com, instead of App Store?
Read HowToQ/A Q7. How to update 10.14.x combo-update to MBR and GPT with installScript directly?

How to make 10.14 installer for MBR (MBR-Automatic-Method)?

Just use 14MBRinstallerMakerto make installer, it works with both MBR and GPT.

Read HowTo inside the dmg first, sam as 10.13.

Read HowToQ/A Q5. How to patch to work with CPU SSE4.1 only for Mojave?
Read HowToQ/A Q6. How to download the full installer app via swscan.apple.com, instead of App Store?
Read HowToQ/A Q9. How to update 10.14.x combo-update to MBR and GPT with installScript directly?

Q6. How to download the full installer app via swscan.apple.com, instead of App Store?
A6. Some people download installer app from App Store, and get only 18 MB size, not the complete installer app (5.68 GB). You should boot to 10.12, or 10.13 to download it again from App Store, or use script Q6-DownloadFullApp/installScript_1014fullapp to download the full installer app via swscan.apple.com.

I reinstalled back to 10.14 from backup. I ran the installerscript again. I attempted to follow the instructions "You should update, reboot, then sudo command, reboot." But upon first reboot it stopped at the same point. Below is a picture on -v, -x boot attempt. Just FYI, the 4th line ends with (remaining mem allocated: 0). The 0 got cut off in pic.

Edited November 1, 2018 by just plain dave

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I reinstalled back to 10.14 from backup. I ran the installerscript again. I attempted to follow the instructions "You should update, reboot, then sudo command, reboot." But upon first reboot it stopped at the same point. Below is a picture on -v, -x boot attempt.

Do you use Clover?

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Yes I do use clover, but I did not re-install clover. I have two SSD's one with Mojave the other with High Sierra. On reboot both appear in Clover menu. Selecting HS...success. Selecting Mojave as described above.

Edited November 1, 2018 by just plain dave

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Yes I do use clover, but I did not re-install clover. I have two SSD's one with Mojave the other with High Sierra. On reboot both appear in Clover menu. Selecting HS...success. Selecting Mojave as described above.

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BUT then in operation do not start any apps from Apple, such as mail, photos, iMessage, and Safari and Another, not. I then looked in the console for error

messages and there was what the frameworks in Private Framework different are not found, although they are available after examination.

But I'm not surprised, since Apple wants to force all to use the stupid APFS.

This Tipp here NOT work:

After updating finished and reboot, Safari and App Store will stop connecting to the internet.
To fix this, need to run the following code in Terminal, and reboot after finished:
sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force

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BUT then in operation do not start any apps from Apple, such as mail, photos, iMessage, and Safari and Another, not. I then looked in the console for error

messages and there was what the frameworks in Private Framework different are not found, although they are available after examination.

But I'm not surprised, since Apple wants to force all to use the stupid APFS.

This Tipp here NOT work:

After updating finished and reboot, Safari and App Store will stop connecting to the internet.
To fix this, need to run the following code in Terminal, and reboot after finished:
sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force

If you have free time, you can try MBR-Automatic-Method script of MBRupdate1014, this should work fine without any problem as you said.

I then tried to update using your script, when the script finished and I went on to copy the dyld command sequence from terminal by right clicking it, terminal suddenly quit itself and a few seconds later the machine reset itself, only to get stuck here when rebooting:

Spoiler

Okay, I thought it might be Parallels Additions, so after having rolled back to a snapshot before my upgrade attempt, I uninstalled those and tried again.

Now Terminal did not quit itself, I could copy the dyld command by right clicking it and saved it into a text file on the desktop (so that I don't forget it).

Progress!

I then chose reboot from the Apple menu, but now the machine is being stuck here:

Spoiler

Any ideas?

I managed to save the installer.pkg from /private/tmp again and here's what it looks like when trying to install it:

Spoiler

and

So no dice here as well.

Any ideas on what I could try? The 10.14 VM is fairly vanilla, I changed almost nothing in it, except for wallpaper and having downloaded a few applications from App Store... (and Parallels Additions, but as I said I uninstalled them again, so that can't really be it...)

What surprises me is how it is being stuck at some APFS stuff, apparently.

Spoiler

And now, please excuse me, you might want to skip reading this as it's just a rant:

<rant>

I've "beta-tested" HFS(+J) for roughly 2 decades, I don't want to repeat the same process all over again with APFS... Files that can't be removed from trash, copy processes that stop with cryptic -52/[other numbers] error messages, volumes that go corrupt and the list goes on and on. I've already lived through the exact cr*p like that with HFS as it grew to what it is nowadays, damn Apple for forcing APFS on us! I damn them!

Not to forget about lack of hardlinks in APFS! I really utilize those from time to time. Admittedly rarely, but what are we supposed to do without them? Symbolic links aren't the same! In my experience most programs don't respect symlinks. Sure, sharing free space between volumes is cool, but 100% useless if you've only got one volume per device...

I've already tested (or rather used) APFS for 3 months in 10.13.1 and it was awful, plain awful! And then the newbs on the web acting like changing the file system is some minor detail! Those tick me off the most. Calling people wanting to stay on HFS "backwards oriented" is an insult I see thrown around on the web constantly. I'm really angered about this "little problem" called APFS. I'm open to new things, but only when they work reliably when reliability is a must and that's the case here.

Sadly this problem exists on real macs as well. It's not even hackintosh only.

Really and deeply disappointed by Apple concerning this topic.

</rant>

However: Thanks again, crazybirdy, your work means a lot to me. Let's look on the bright side of life!

EDIT1: I see you recommend Q9 update script? I only have Q7 update script?

I then tried to update using your script, when the script finished and I went on to copy the dyld command sequence from terminal by right clicking it, terminal suddenly quit itself and a few seconds later the machine reset itself, only to get stuck here when rebooting:

Hide contents

Okay, I thought it might be Parallels Additions, so after having rolled back to a snapshot before my upgrade attempt, I uninstalled those and tried again.

Now Terminal did not quit itself, I could copy the dyld command by right clicking it and saved it into a text file on the desktop (so that I don't forget it).

Progress!

I then chose reboot from the Apple menu, but now the machine is being stuck here:

Hide contents

Any ideas?

I managed to save the installer.pkg from /private/tmp again and here's what it looks like when trying to install it:

Hide contents

and

So no dice here as well.

Any ideas on what I could try? The 10.14 VM is fairly vanilla, I changed almost nothing in it, except for wallpaper and having downloaded a few applications from App Store... (and Parallels Additions, but as I said I uninstalled them again, so that can't really be it...)

What surprises me is how it is being stuck at some APFS stuff, apparently.

Hide contents

And now, please excuse me, you might want to skip reading this as it's just a rant:

<rant>

I've "beta-tested" HFS(+J) for roughly 2 decades, I don't want to repeat the same process all over again with APFS... Files that can't be removed from trash, copy processes that stop with cryptic -52/[other numbers] error messages, volumes that go corrupt and the list goes on and on. I've already lived through the exact cr*p like that with HFS as it grew to what it is nowadays, damn Apple for forcing APFS on us! I damn them!

Not to forget about lack of hardlinks in APFS! I really utilize those from time to time. Admittedly rarely, but what are we supposed to do without them? Symbolic links aren't the same! In my experience most programs don't respect symlinks. Sure, sharing free space between volumes is cool, but 100% useless if you've only got one volume per device...

I've already tested (or rather used) APFS for 3 months in 10.13.1 and it was awful, plain awful! And then the newbs on the web acting like changing the file system is some minor detail! Those tick me off the most. Calling people wanting to stay on HFS "backwards oriented" is an insult I see thrown around on the web constantly. I'm really angered about this "little problem" called APFS. I'm open to new things, but only when they work reliably when reliability is a must and that's the case here.

Sadly this problem exists on real macs as well. It's not even hackintosh only.

Really and deeply disappointed by Apple concerning this topic.

</rant>

However: Thanks again, crazybirdy, your work means a lot to me. Let's look on the bright side of life!

EDIT1: I see you recommend Q9 update script? I only have Q7 update script?

update to 10.14.1.18B75 viainstallScript_1014, and boot -s with following commands﻿. All apple app work fine.

Thank you crazybirdy, gengik84 and everybody else involved! I rolled back everything again, took a deep breath and then ran Q7 updater script. I then shut down the machine, booted up in single user (trivia: In my first attempt I forgot to disable SIP before updating, so I had to do everything twice. Ouch!), refreshed kextcaches and after a fairly quick reboot it's finally up and running: